Global Voices » Venezuela

Norway: Discussing Latin America at the Oslo Freedom Forum

Marianna Breytman — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:24:09 +0000

Last week, the fourth gathering of the Oslo Freedom Forum took place, organized by the Human Rights Foundation in the Norwegian capital. Under the slogan “From darkness to light,” the forum brought together world figures that aim to tackle humanitarian crises and exchange ideas to mitigate their effects. Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices Online, was one of the main speakers during a session entitled “Voices in the dark.”

Among the topics that generated major interest throughout the forum was the current crisis in Syria and the political repression that some activists live with under Vladimir Putin's new government in Russia, as well as a review of the first year of the “Arab Spring.” Nevertheless, the event covered a series of topics that involved other world regions, among which was Latin America.

Humberto Prado, from Venezuela, was the first Latin American to speak before the forum about the reality of prisons in his country. Using horrific images of prisoners shooting into the air, which contrast one of a group of convicts playing in a symphony orchestra, Prado unveiled a terrifying statistic: 5,066 convicts have died since 1999, while 14,460 have been injured. He also asked the European Union to pay attention to Venezuelan penitentiaries.

Nicolás Perez, Director of Ecuadorian daily El Universo, exposed the iron fist of Rafael Correa's government, which left the newspaper with a million-dollar fine for publishing a letter to the editor where Correa's actions were criticized for allegedly ordering the army to open fire against a hospital during a police brawl, which led to a massive international condemnation against the lack of freedom of expression in the country.

Meanwhile, Mauricio Rodas, also from Ecuador and the founder of the Ethos Foundation, announced an innovative index that measures the poverty level in Latin America and has generated criticisms of Correa's government as well.

Lastly, Ethan Nadelmann, founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, highlighted the problem of drug consumption prohibition, which points to indiscriminate imprisonment of minorities in the United States — primarily the Hispanic population.

In Oslo, we had the opportunity to sit down with Venezuelan native Marcel Granier, General Director of Radio Caracas Television, whose signal was removed from open transmission in his country in 2007. Granier, who also participated in the second meeting of said forum on assault against the Venezuelan press, highlighted the importance of bringing up human rights issues in Latin America at European events due to the “connection that exists between Latin Americans and European countries like Spain and Portugal.”

With regards to the forum, Granier affirmed that “every day there is a greater sense of consciousness” about the current situation in Venezuela, which “increases [incidentally] the level of consciousness on a global level,” and brought attention to the fact that respecting human rights in his country will be fundamental to guaranteeing the well-being of all Venezuelans, in addition to securing diaspora's return to their land.

On Twitter, some Oslo Freedom Forum participants, like Oslo Scholars Program (@OsloScholars), emphasized certain excerpts of the Latin American speeches:

There is no dignity in prison: what exists is social cleansing” - Humberto Prado. Such a powerful speech on prison conditions in Venezuela.

Likewise, Runrunes (@RunRunesWeb) [es] pointed out that Humberto Prado's speech was quite powerful:

#Runrunes ALTO:De alto impacto ponencia de Humberto Prado (Observatorio Vzlano de Prisiones) en el Oslo Freedom Forum- http://ow.ly/aOfcW

#Runrunes STOP: Extremely compelling speech by Humberto Prado (Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons) at the Oslo Freedom Forum - http://ow.ly/aOfcW

Venezuela journalist Nelson Bocaranda (@Desconvocara) [es] highlighted an important declaration from Mauricio Rodas during the event:

Mauricio Rodas,miembro de la Fundacion Ethos que hizo radiografía de pobreza latinoamericana anuncio en Oslo q buscara Presidencia Ecuador

Mauricios Rodas, a member of the Ethos Foundation, who took an X-ray of Latin American poverty, announced in Oslo that he will seek Ecuadorian presidency

The following are images from the Latin American presentations at the Oslo Freedom Forum, courtesy of MarieBW and the author of this post.

Reception at Oslo's City Hall.

Participants share ideas in the intermission between speeches.

The forum closed with the awarding of the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissidence.

Latin America: Art from the Colonial Period in 2.0

Jon Lindsay Miles — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:47:59 +0000

All links lead to Spanish-language websites, unless otherwise noted.

The long colonial period that resulted in what we know today as Latin America, has left its traces in the colonial art still preserved throughout the continent. Citizen media attests to this. Many online spaces are dedicated to the sharing of photographs, video, texts, specific works and other examples of artistic expression from this period, at the same time explaining how these images today make up part of the landscape and identity of the countries they belong to. As one would anticipate, the images from each region show an enormous diversity in response to the inspiration that arrived from Europe.

We present here a sample of the many 2.0 websites dedicated to this colonial art, that serves as the common denominator adopted by indigenous cultures across most of the continent, before being adapted by each as its own.

The Portal de Arte (Art Gateway) from Colombia, provides us with a context for the definition of what is understood by the term Colonial Art:

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Reproduced under the Creative Commons licence

Este arte se caracteriza por la fusión de cosmovisiones y técnicas de conquistadores y aborígenes […] En cada pieza escultórica, catedral y pintura, los motivos religiosos son los gobernantes, así como los parámetros de representación europeos; pero éstos fueron sutil y subterráneamente “digeridos” por los aborígenes americanos, quienes colocaron en cada obra elementos propios de sus culturas (símbolos religiosos y espirituales, figuras antropomorficas, zoomorficas y fitomorfas) de modo tal que se entremezclaban con los imágenes católicas importadas, manteniendo de este modo, la voluntad de forma de la producción artística indígena subsitiendo [sic] por debajo del arte europeo impuesto a la fuerza.

This art is characterized by the fusion of the world views as well as the techniques of both the Spanish Conquistadores and the indigenous people. […] European religious motifs and representational parameters govern each piece of cathedral sculpture and painting, but these are then subtly and surreptitious “digested” by the indigenous people of the Americas, who placed elements of their own cultures into each work (religious and spiritual symbols, anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and other biomorphic figures) in such a way that these mix with the imported Catholic images, assuring that the expressive forms of indigenous artistic production survive beneath the forced imposition of those of European art.

In Ecuador, Iván Petroff shares some of his work, done for his studies in artistic expression, pointing us to some characteristic features of the colonial plastic arts:

La plástica colonial, al comienzo fue repetitiva, o mejor, recreativa de los modelos europeos, sin embargo, pese al control español, el artista indígena introdujo pequeños elementos de su arte y religión, especialmente en los rasgos físicos de los santos provincianos y en la carga cultural no europea de los retablos y algunos motivos ornamentales de capiteles y frisos.

The colonial plastic arts at first repeated, or rather, recreated European models. Nevertheless, and in spite of Spanish control, indigenous artists introduced small elements from their art and religion, particularly in the way of physical features given to the images of provincial saints, and in a non-European cultural charge expressed in altarpieces and in ornamental motifs given to capitals and friezes.

In the same way, Iván uses his blog to open access to a musical piece from the epoch, placed on YouTube by denesago. The song was composed by the Spaniard Juan de Araujo, who was confirmed as one of the most important musicians of the colonial epoch in what is now Bolivia. The video images show something of baroque architecture and painting from Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru:

In Venezuela, Janeth Rodríguez manages a blog dedicated entirely to colonial art in Venezuela and its different expressive modes. The sources of her posts are various academic pieces, the principal motivation being to gather, celebrate and bring to people's attention the preservation of these pieces:

Este blog nace con varios objetivos: difundir nuestro patrimonio artístico de los siglos XVI al XVIII con la intención de promover su preservación; servir de vehículo para promocionar la investigación que los estudiantes de la Escuela de Artes de la Universidad Central de Venezuela producen en torno a este tema; y lograr una comunicación más efectiva entre todos los interesados en el mundo colonial.Nuestra meta es presentar a los visitantes una breve historia de diversas obras de arte venezolanas, e incluso de algunas extranjeras que llegaron a nuestro territorio durante ese período.

Several objectives are behind the birth of this blog: to disseminate information about our artistic heritage from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in order to argue for its preservation; to serve as a vehicle for the promotion of investigation of this material by students of the School of Arts at the Central University of Venezuela; and to open up the most effective communication we can between all those interested in the colonial world. Our aim is to present to those visiting our site a brief history of varied Venezuelan objects of art, as well as others that arrived here from other lands during this historical period.

Meanwhile, the blog Romanticismo, launched by students of Spanish and Literature in the Colombian capital Bogotá, shares examples of the characteristic forms of literature from the colonial epoch:

La literatura en lengua española durante la colonia comenzó a desenvolverse en Nueva España desde un principio. La literatura de la conquista son mayormente coplas y romances, burlas hacia los gobernadores, ayudantes, etc. mientras que la de colonia son textos que incitan a la libertad y revolución.

Literature in the Spanish language during colonial times quickly began its particular development. Literature from the time of the conquest is mostly in the form of verse and romances, poking fun especially at those who governed and those around them, while that from the colonial period comprises texts urging liberty and inciting revolution.

Then there is Optimusomnium, which shows several examples of Peruvian painting of the colonial period in a video:

Finally, user LordArchibaldHartley gathers a number of artistic and cultural images that have served as the inspiration for much of the art made in Mexico today.

These are just a few of the many examples of sites offering information on colonial period art in Latin America in 2.0. If you'd like more information and to investigate other similar sources in the Spanish language, visit the Wikipedia article Arte colonial latinoamericano.

Venezuela: Street Art on the Internet

Marianna Breytman — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:01:29 +0000

Street artists and musicians broaden their public when they come into contact with citizen media. In Venezuela, where music and theater are parts of daily life, traffic, and buses, a number of citizen journalists share their experiences when they meet with artists that bring color to urban life.

Similarly, these very artists prepare short videos and documentaries in which they show performances of various street musicians.

In this video, recorded by the artists themselves for the festival of street singers, you can see musicians that come together in various cities throughout the country:

Meanwhile, Cinetica13 shares a very popular street musician's performance in the city of Mérida.

Theater also has its place in the Venezuelan street art world. On his YouTube account, Perucho Morales shares performances by the “Comediantes” group, also in Mérida.

Thumbnail “Melodies in the street. Mérida, Venezuela” by Flickr user David Hernández, used under Creative Commons License Generic Non-Commercial-Equal-Sharing Attribution 2.0 2.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Venezuela: Video ‘Caracas, City of Farewells' Sparks Discussion on Emigration

Jea — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:35:32 +0000

It took the Venezuelan blogosphere only a matter of days to unleash an avalanche of criticism and mockery on the video documentary “Caracas, Ciudad de Despedidas” (”Caracas, City of Farewells”). The video compiles seventeen minutes of interviews on the experience of emigration in Venezuela and explores the reasons which have driven several of its citizens to join the growing Venezuelan diaspora. The sheer force of the response led to the video's removal from the YouTube channel on which it was initially posted, and resulted in public statements from those behind and those featured in the documentary.

Overall, the video met with a strong wave of harsh criticism, mockery, video responses, remixes [es], parodies [es], caricatures, memes and tweets, with the hashtag, #meiriademasiado [es], an allusion to the comment of one of the subjects in the video, “Yo sí me iría… Me iría demasiado [sic]” (”I would go, I would so go”) becoming a trending topic en Venezuela.

The video did receive some shows of support, albeit very few, which backed up the validity of its ideas, pointing out that behind the tone and the rhetoric (the most criticized aspects of the video), the video had served to stir up a highly sensitive topic within citizen media: emigration due to urban violence.

El brujo [es] points to what, in his opinion, was the main flaw in “Caracas, Ciudad de Despedidas”:

El problema del autocensurado video […] y de sus participantes, radica en la absoluta ajenidad y desconocimiento absoluto de la sociedad a la que dicen pertenecer, emitiendo juicios de valor totalmente sesgados y prejuiciados respecto a asuntos que obviamente conocen por lo que les dicen sus padres …

The problem with this self-censored video […] and its subjects, lies in their absolute alienation from, and ignorance of, the society to which they claim to belong, passing completely biased value judgments and spouting prejudice about issues on which quite obviously their only knowledge comes from what their parents told them.

Meanwhile, Luis, on Panfleto Negro [es] (Black Pamphlet), underlines the main message:

…detrás de todo el mandibuleo [*] y el “me iría demasiado” hay una realidad a la que no queremos dar la cara; Venezuela no ofrece a sus jóvenes ni un presente ni un futuro viable, ofrece más penurias y que todo vaya a peor antes de ir mejor. Hablar de porvenir en un país donde se depende de la salud de una sola persona es casi tan ingenuo como los testimonios de estos chicos.

…Behind all the “mandibuleo” [*] and the “me iría demasiado” (”I would so go”), lies a reality which we do not want to face up to; Venezuela offers its youth neither a viable present nor future, the country offers more hardship and the idea that things have to get worse before they can get better. To speak of the future in a country in which that future depends on the health of a single person is almost as naive as the views expressed by the kids in the video.

[*] In Venezuela, “mandibuleo” is a term used to describe the speech of upper-class youth in Caracas (who are also known as “sifrinos”).

On the other hand, Vanessa [es] opines:

Yo pienso que ellos sí tienen derecho a opinar lo que les dé la gana, así sea mandibuleado y mal redactado. ¿O es que acaso ya en Venezuela estamos tan acostumbrados a la mordaza en la boca que nos escandaliza una opinión distinta a la propia? Se ha formado una especie de dictadura opositora donde, al igual que los chavistas, todos repiten al unísono lo que les mandan a decir los “líderes opositores”. Al que se salga un poquito de la línea, los demás le caen a peinillazos.

I think that they do have a right to express their opinion on whatever they feel like, even if it's “mandibuleado” and poorly-executed. Or is it the case that in Venezuela we are so accustomed to being gagged, that we are scandalised by any opinion different to the one we hold. A kind of opposition dictatorship has sprung up, just like the Chavista one, in which everyone repeats in unison whatever the “leaders of the opposition” tell them to say. Let anyone step the slightest bit out of line, and the others come down on him like a ton of bricks.

Laura Solórzano, en her blog Debilidades y Vicios [es] (Weaknesses and Vices) points to another fact:

[…] mi preocupación es que muchos de esos “jóvenes del este del este[”] que estudiaron en los mejores colegios y universidades” sigue sin entender el verdadero problema en Venezuela. Que esos chamos de “me iría demasiado” son los hijos de esos venezolanos que hicieron plata y se olvidaron que existía un país y que algún día les tenían que responder.

My concern is that so many of these “east of east[”] youth, who attended the best colleges and universities still don't understand the real problem here in Venezuela. Namely, that these kids with their “I would so go” are the children of those Venezuelans who made a lot of money and forgot about the existence of a country which they would one day have to answer to.

Meanwhile, Mirelis Morales Tovar [es] explains why the video moved her:

Me movió… Si, no lo niego. Quien tiene dos hermanos lejos, otro con un pie aquí y otr[o] allá, así como casi todos sus amig@s a muchas horas de distancia, no puede ser indiferente a lo que se plantea en el video Caracas Ciudad de Despedidas.
Es una realidad. Queramos o no. […] Todos quienes vivimos en esta ciudad tenemos el temor de no regresar a casa y eso no es precisamente una sensación con la que debamos acostumbrarnos.

Pero fomentar la idea de que emigrar se ha vuelto la solución a los problemas que nos agobian en este país es ir creando una generación de desarraigados.[…] Otros países han vivido situaciones similares o peores. Y es el espíritu de su gente lo que les ha permitido salir a flote. [Venezuela] es una nación herida. Herida por su propia gente. Pero también es tierra de gracia, de oportunidades.

It moved me… Yes, I'm not going to deny it. A person with two brothers living far away, and another with one foot at home and the other abroad, and on top of all that, with almost all their friends living several hours away, can't just be indifferent to what was going on in the “Caracas, Ciudad de Despedidas” video. It's a reality. Whether we like it or not. […] Everyone who lives in this city carries this fear of not being able to make it home and this is not a feeling we ought to get used to having.

But to foment this idea of emigration now being the solution to the problems overwhelming us in this country, is to create an entire generation of rootless people […] Other countries have been through similar or worse. And it's the spirit of their people which allowed them to rise above it. [Venezuela] is a wounded nation. Wounded by her own people. But this is also the land of grace, of opportunity.

Asdrúbal [es], for his part, comments:

lo que sinceramente no me gustó [de las opiniones expuestas el video] fue el hacer entender que la responsabilidad de mejorar al país era de «otros» exclusivamente.

What I sincerely disliked [about the views expressed in the video] was the idea that the responsibility for improving the country lay exclusively in the hands of “others”.

Of the participants in the video, Raquel Abend van Dalen, was the first to break her silence. In her blog Merienda en el Espacio [es] (Snacking in Space), which was made private days later, she wrote:

La realidad de Venezuela nos afecta a todos. Tanto a los que viven en ella, como a los que se tuvieron que ir. Y cada quien busca la forma de sobrellevarla y de aportar para un cambio positivo. Yo amo a Caracas, yo a amo Venezuela. Es el país en donde nací y crecí. Venezuela es el espacio que me ha hecho ser quien soy, y que me ha brindado todas las oportunidades para crecer como persona y como ciudadana. Esta situación me ha servido de lección de vida: se vive y se aprende.

The reality in Venezuela affects all of us. It affects those who still live here, just as it does those who had to leave. And everyone is looking for the right way to uplift the country and to bring positive change. I love Caracas, I love Venezuela. It's the country I was born and raised in. Venezuela is the place that has made me who I am, and which has offered me every opportunity to grow as a person and as a citizen. This situation has served as a life lesson for me: you live and you learn.

The youth involved in the documentary published a communique [es] in response to the reaction their video received. In it, they explained their reasons for producing such a video, adding:

Nunca nos imaginamos, esperamos o quisimos este alcance y ahora que lo tenemos no nos lamentamos, porque a pesar de que la forma parezca banal, lo que ahí se expresa sigue siendo la verdad: tenemos miedo por la inseguridad que existe en Caracas y por ello no hemos podido vivir nuestra ciudad como quisiéramos.

We never imagined, hoped or desired it to reach this level, and now that it has, we don't regret it because, although the form might appear banal, what's being expressed remains as true as ever: we are afraid of the insecurity that exists in Caracas and because of it we have not been able to live our lives the way we would have wanted to.

The communique concludes:

Respetamos las opiniones diferentes a las nuestras, agradecemos el apoyo de quienes nos han respaldado e invitamos a todos a mirar más allá de la forma y analizar el fondo, a leer entre líneas y considerar que todos formamos parte de lo mismo aunque seamos diferentes. No es una cuestión de discriminar a un grupo, es de exponer a otro y no es para ofender a nadie, es para compartir lo que algunos sentimos.

We respect opinions different to our own, we are grateful for the support of those who have backed us and we invite everyone to look beyond the form and analyze the substance, to read between the lines and consider that we are all part of the same thing, even though we might be different. It's not a question of discriminating against a group, it's to display another, and there is no intention of offending anybody, this is to express what we feel.

Finally, Leopoldo Tablante [es] reflects on the similarities and the discourse of the upper and lower classes, and on how this mirrors a common spirit which makes living together and social advancement difficult:

Por novatada o por lo que sea, el video parece inspirado por un muy particular espíritu de indolencia ante el proyecto de construcción del bien común. Y sin ese espíritu, ¿qué nos queda?
Por la izquierda o por la derecha (si es que estos clivajes siguen teniendo vigencia), en la urbanización o en el barrio, Venezuela suena en monofónico. Y con ese empaque al vacío, ¿a quién le queda fuelle para pensar en una reconciliación?

Out of naivete or whatever the case may be, the video seems to be inspired by a very particular spirit of indolence, in terms of the project of working on the common good. And without this spirit, what do we have left? Whether on the left or the right (if these cleavages are still relevant), in exclusive housing developments or in the ghetto, the sound of Venezuela is in monophone. And with such an apparent void, who still has breath left in them to think of a reconciliation?

May Day Videos: Marches, Demonstrations and Protests Around The World

Juliana Rincón Parra — Tue, 08 May 2012 05:08:19 +0000

Through cities around the globe, people took to the streets to march and commemorate the International Workers' Day. Videos by The Real News take us on a tour of how the day was observed throughout the world.

May Day March in Venezuela

While some places saw peaceful marches, others had violent encounters between armed forces and the protesters. On the first part of the video, an overview of workers in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. For example, Malaysian activists protested against the growing inequality. In the Philippines were for job security and higher wages. Indonesians protested low wages and rough conditions. Cambodians asked for higher wages. People in Bahrein asked for workers to be reinstated to their positions of which they were removed by the government crackdowns. In Egypt protests were on behalf of including workers rights in the constitution that is being drafted. In Europe, workers protested austerity measures that seem to target them. In Russia, both the ruling party and the opposition had their own rallies. The French left marched against the past of fiscal austerity. And in the London, where May Day is not a holiday, workers went on strike.

On the second part, protests in North and South America. Demonstrations throughout Canada protesting budget cuts and rises in college tuition. In the USA, banks were targeted in many major cities including clashes with riot police, calls to strikes, and blockades. In Mexico workers marched to ask the government to do a better job in the face of violence. Honduras saw protests against the privatization of public services as well as corruption. In Cuba, massive parades commemorated the Cuban Revolution and in Venezuela both the government supporters and opposition marched, either for or against the recent reforms. In Colombia there were arrests during the protests and the Chilean student movement also marched.

Internet Campaigns Invite Tourists to Visit Latin America

Jon Lindsay Miles — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:43:16 +0000

The people of Latin America boast of their land's fine and varied geography, with its beaches, forests and mountains; they are proud of the inheritance left them by the peoples who inhabited these lands in pre-Hispanic times, and which are standing today in the form of its archeological remains, the wonders of which are scattered all across the continent; and then there is the rich mixture of races and cultures that make up the modern cities of the region.

But if this part of the world is so magical, why isn't it also the most visited?

According to statistics of the most visited countries in 2010, Mexico has the highest ranking among Latin American nations, in tenth place on the list, followed by Argentina, which is at number 43. And if we take into account that France, which heads the list, receives 79.3 million tourists, compared with the 22.6 million that put Mexico in tenth place, and the 5.2 million that visit Argentina, it becomes clear that Latin America is not chosen by large numbers of people as a tourist destination.

However, if we look at these statistics from a historical perspective, tourism to Latin America has increased, and, even if not dramatically so, certainly enough to provide governments with reason to grant more importance to the sector. As mentioned [es] in a statement on EnlaRedRadio, there are various challenges for the region when it comes to increasing tourism:

Marco Antonio Serrato, director general de Educación Ejecutiva en el TEC de Monterrey en México, comenta que entre los temas que determinan el debate actual sobre el turismo en la región, destacan “el rol que la industria juega como motor del desarrollo económico y social en los países de América Latina; la puesta en valor de los activos, sean naturales, culturales, arqueológicos o humanos, con los que nuestros países cuentan para posicionar la actividad turística y las marcas país a nivel internacional; y la diversificación del turismo en variantes no solo de playa, sino de naturaleza, cultura, negocios, salud y congresos”.

Serrato añade que “el desarrollo de estrategias e infraestructuras que promuevan y faciliten un turismo sostenible y la mejora de servicios complementarios como los gastronómicos, telefonía móvil, renta de vehículos y hospitalarios, además de la profesionalización de los trabajadores que atienden a los usuarios, al igual que garantizar la seguridad de los turistas y reforzar la percepción de esta, son tareas que vienen aparejadas con los lineamientos de desarrollo más generales”.

Marco Antonio Serrato, Executive Director General of Education at the Monterrey TEC in Mexico, notes that key issues that shape the current debate about tourism in the region include, “the role the industry plays as the engine of economic and social development in the countries of Latin America; attaching a true value to the assets our countries possess, whether these be natural, cultural, archeological or in terms of its people, and which will allow us to locate our tourist activity and national brands at an international level; and the diversification of tourism into activities that move beyond simple beach holidays into offering the experience of our natural environment, and other activities related to culture, business, health and the staging of conferences”.

Serrato adds that, “the development of strategies and infrastructures that stimulate sustainable tourism, the improvement of complementary services in gastronomy, in the mobile telephone network, vehicle rental and hospitality services, as well as the professional training of the workforce that deals with tourists, guaranteeing their safety and security and increasing their perception of the same - all these are tasks that are entailed in the development of the most general of plans.”

Jorge Gobbi, Global Voices author and blogger specialising in tourist matters, wrote [es] in early 2012 about this growth trend in tourism in Latin America in his Blog de Viajes (Travel Blog) [es]:

se pueden señalar al menos dos cosas. La primera, las cifras de crecimiento de las naciones sudamericanas se ubica entre el 8 al 14%, dos a tres veces más que la tasa de crecimiento mundial. Segundo, buena parte de ese crecimiento se está dando gracias al aumento del turismo regional. Lo que es una muy buena consecuencia de la mejor situación económica y del aumento del consumo en nuestros países.

Con esas perspectivas, es de esperar que para este 2012 los organismos de turismo sudamericanos se van a concentrar en incrementar su promoción en otros países de la región, sin apuntar tanto a América del Norte y Europa. Esperemos que 2012 sea la consolidación de una tendencia de crecimiento económico a mediano y largo plazo en América del Sur, ya que las perspectivas globales no parecen demasiado positivas.

at least two points can be identified. First, growth figures of between 8% and 14% among South American nations, which are between two and three times the rate for the world as a whole. Second, a good part of this growth is due to tourism within the region itself. This is one very positive consequence of the improved economic situation and the growth in consumption within our countries.

From this perspective, it is to be hoped that tourist organisations across South America are going to focus in 2012 on increasing their promotional activities in other countries in the region, and not give so much attention to the North American and European markets. Let's hope that 2012 will be the year of consolidation towards both a medium and long term trend in economic growth in South America, particularly as the global picture isn't particularly positive.

A question follows: What concrete actions are governments or businesses taking to increase the flow of tourists into their countries? Apart from the infrastructure works and service sector training that needs to be carried out, one of the most common strategies is that of the publicity campaign.

Colombia is host to one of the most well-known tourist promotion campaigns, with its slogan, “Colombia, the danger is you'll want to stay“, which was preceded by the establishment of the country brand: “Colombia is passion” [es]. There is an official travel guide to accompany the campaign, which has produced various promotional videos:

Neighbouring Venezuela is also attempting to attract tourists through its Venezuela Turismo, since the country possesses many interesting [es] destinations.

Another Colombian neighbour, Panama, has recently launched [es] its “Disfruta Panamá” or “Enjoy Panama” campaign, which makes use of a YouTube channel and Facebook pages in both Spanish and English, as well as Twitter accounts, also in Spanish and English. The website Visit Panama provides an additional resource.

As for Central America, although there is a regional campaign to promote tourism within the region, several of its countries have their own campaigns, as in the case of Guatemala with its “Corazón del Mundo Maya” [Heart of the Mayan World], or Costa Rica's “Sin Ingredientes Artificiales” (No Artificial Ingredients).

Mexico is running several campaigns, one of which, Mundo Maya 2012 [Mayan World 2012, es], places the same emphasis as Guatemala on the ancient Mayan civilisation. Another is Visit Mexico. The Federal Executive Authority in this country has its own Ministry of Tourism, which initiates the development of tourist destinations and activities at the same time as promoting these among both Mexicans and those from abroad. And then there is the Mexican Tourist Board (also an arm of the Federal Government), which coordinates, designs and develops both national strategies and those targeting the overseas market.

Moving south, we find “Chile es tuyo” [Chile belongs to you, es], a campaign mainly targeted at the internal tourist market. Something similar can be found in Argentina's “Viajá por tu país” [Travel your own land, es]. But we also come across local initiatives here, as in the case of that of the Tourist Secretariat of Santa Cruz Patagonia [es] or that of Mendoza [es].

In neighbouring Uruguay there are several websites that promote tourism in the country, including Tourists Club Uruguay, Viaje a Uruguay [Journey to Uruguay, es] and Turismo en Uruguay [es].

Several campaigns have been put into motion in Peru as part of the activity that takes place within its country brand, with the launch of a new campaign [es] in the coming days. One of its previous campaigns, “Perú: Vive la leyenda” [Peru: Live the Legend] was a prizewinner in Brazil last year. This is the video:

I had the opportunity earlier this year to speak with the Argentinian journalist and blogger previously cited in this article, Jorge Gobbi, and we recorded a short podcast [es] about tourism in Latin America today.

Although the above is not an exhaustive survey, it does give a rough idea of how the promotion of tourism is currently taking place in a region with an infinite number of attractions to offer to both local and international visitors.

Thanks to our Latin American collegues at Global Voices for the information and links they provided.

Post originally [es] published in Juan Arellano's personal blog.

The small image of Machu Picchu is from the Flickr account of Benjamin Dumas, used under license Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 2.0 Genérica (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

‘Mujeres Construyendo': Empowering Women, One Blog at a Time

Kathryn Morgan — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:00:34 +0000

“Una bloguera es, ante todo, una mujer valiente, que se atreve y se compromete. ¿Por qué? Porque a través de su blog se expresa, dice lo que piensa, siente, lo que es. Si tiene miedo de hablar o darle cuerpo a sus ideas, enfrenta ese miedo y lo supera.”

- “¿Quién es una bloguera?”, Mujeres Construyendo

A female blogger is, first and foremost, a brave woman, one who dares and one who commits. Why? Because through her blog she expresses herself, she says what she thinks, what she feels, what she is. If she is afraid to speak of or shape her ideas, she confronts this fear and overcomes it.

- “¿Quién es una bloguera?” [es] (Who is a female blogger?), Mujeres Construyendo

Women make up almost half of Latin America's Internet users. However, in spite of their high web-presence, women are mainly content consumers. Mujeres Construyendo [es], the first platform for female bloggers in Spanish, wants to transform Hispanic women into creators, not just consumers, of internet content.

Its founder, Claudia Calvin, answered some questions about this platform and community of Hispanic female bloggers.

Global Voices: How and when was Mujeres Construyendo created?

Claudia Calvin: Mujeres Construyendo surge como proyecto en el 2008, después de un tiempo de haberme hecho bloguera. Su origen se encuentra principalmente en mis andares por internet y después de descubrir una realidad que llamó profundamente mi atención: que las mujeres de habla hispana que participamos en internet seguimos transmitiendo en este espacio una creencia profundamente arraigada en nuestra cultura. ¿Cuál es? Aquella que nos inculcaron de niñas y en la que nos decían que “calladitas nos veíamos más bonitas”. Descubrí que nuestra participación como blogueras era muy distinta a la participación de las blogueras estadounidenses: ellas en la actualidad representan casi un 60% de los blogueros en su país y las blogueras en internet de habla hispana representamos un escaso 27%. Cuando inicié Mujeres Construyendo, la cifra era más desalentadora aún: 15%.

Busqué afanosamente un espacio de convergencia de mujeres blogueras, un espacio que no fuese un directorio, sino un lugar de convivencia, una comunidad como tal. Al no encontrarla, decidí hacerla, y así es como surge Mujeres Construyendo.

Hablé con unos amigos desarrolladores y lograron darle vida a esta idea que tenía en mi mente. La plataforma Mujeres Construyendo surge como tal en el 2009.

Claudia Calvin: Mujeres Construyendo came about in 2008, after a period of establishing myself as a blogger. It came from my internet browsing and the discovery of a reality that really caught my attention: Spanish speaking women who contribute to the internet continue to transmit a profound belief that is deeply-rooted in our culture. What was it? The belief that has been instilled in us since we were girls, the idea that “the quieter we are, the more beautiful we are”. I discovered that our contributions as bloggers were very distinct to that of American women. They currently constitute almost 60% of bloggers in their country and Spanish speaking female bloggers make up just 27%. When I began Mujeres Construyendo, the figure was even more discouraging… 15%.

I frantically looked for a space where female bloggers could get together, a space that wasn't a directory, but rather a place of coexistence, a community, as it were. After failing to find this, I decided to make it myself, and that is how Mujeres Construyendo came about.

I spoke with some developer friends and they managed to bring the idea I had in mind to life. And so the Mujeres Construyendo platform sprung to life in 2009.

GV: What is Mujeres Construyendo's mission? What does it want to achieve with this female blogging platform?

CC: El objetivo de Mujeres Construyendo es que las mujeres aprendamos a hacer uso de las nuevas tecnologías y las herramientas que brinda internet para empoderarnos, crecer, desarrollarnos. Los blogs son una herramienta de empoderamiento para nosotras: nos permite comunicar lo que hacemos, pensamos, visualizamos y participar en un diálogo central en el nuevo espacio público, que es internet.

Hemos participado más como observadoras y consumidoras de contenido que como proveedoras y en este espacio vacío se está perdiendo una enorme oportunidad para construir una realidad que refleje nuestros intereses y manera de entender y participar en el mundo, tanto en el ámbito de lo social, como lo político y empresarial, y ni qué decir de lo personal y familiar.

Las mujeres vivimos muchos tipos de marginación en el mundo, no necesitamos sumar una más a las existentes: la digital.

CC: The objective of Mujeres Construyendo is for women to learn to make use of new technologies and tools that the internet offers in order to be empowered, to grow and to develop. Blogs are empowering tools for us - they enable us to communicate what we do, what we think, what we see. They allow us to participate in a central dialogue in the new public space, the internet.

We have been more involved as observers and consumers of content than providers. We are missing out on a great opportunity to construct a reality that reflects our interests and way of understanding and participating in the world, in a social sense, as well as a political and business sense, not to mention the personal and familial.

Women deal with many types of marginalisation in society, we don't need to add digital marginalisation to those that already exist.

GV: Why is it important for women to have a blog?

CC: Como mencionaba anteriormente, los blogs son una herramienta de empoderamiento en la medida en que posibilitan que las mujeres puedan comunicarse, expresar, proponer y dialogar en internet y con ello contribuir a la definición y construcción de una realidad que refleje sus intereses y visión. Las voces de mujeres en la blogósfera son importantes porque son el reflejo de la mitad de los habitantes del planeta y en el medida en que sean actores sociales, políticos, voten, consuman, tomen decisiones y vivan de manera cotidiana los diversos contextos de su entorno (desde violencia, hasta crisis económicas, pasando por desastres naturales o guerras) su voz es importante. Son actores de la vida cotidiana y su visión y mirada cuentan, valen, reflejan una circunstancia. Su silencio resulta -sin que ellas mismas los sepan- cómplices de realidades sexistas o que marginan y en la medida en que paulatinamente vayan apareciendo y expresando su voz…irá cambiando el entorno. El silencio jamás ha sido socio del empoderamiento.

CC: As I mentioned before, blogs are tools of empowerment insofar as they make it possible for women to be able to communicate and express themselves, make suggestions and converse on the internet. They are tools with which women contribute to the definition and construction of a reality that represents their interests and vision. Women's voices, in the blogosphere, are important because they reflect half of the planet's inhabitants. Their voices are important in the sense that they are social players, politicians, they vote, they act, they make decisions and everyday they live through different environmental contexts (from violence, to economic crises; from natural disasters, to wars). They are players in everyday life and their vision and perspective counts, they are valued, they reflect a situation. Their silence, although they themselves are unaware, acts as an accomplice for a sexist reality, or it means they are marginalised. As long as their voices continue to gradually appear and be expressed, this environment will keep changing.

GV: How many women have a blog on Mujeres Construyendo?

CC: La comunidad de Mujeres Construyendo está constituida por la plataforma Mujeres Construyendo (www.mujeresconstruyendo.com) y las redes sociales a través de las cuáles se conecta su comunidad. La suma de personas conectadas a esta propuesta y a este espacio suma hoy cerca de 9 mil personas.

CC: The community of Mujeres Construyendo is made up by the Mujeres Construyendo platform (www.mujeresconstruyendo.com) and the social networks that connect this community. The total sum of people connected today is around nine thousand.

GV: What is the profile of the women who blog on Mujeres Construyendo?

CC: Cabe decir que participan hombres y mujeres en nuestra plataforma. Somos un espacio incluyente y consideramos que no se puede hablar de equidad partiendo de un principio de exclusión, por ello, las voces masculinas son bien recibidas. La mayoría, estamos hablando de más del 96%, son mujeres. Su perfil es principalmente urbano, de entre 25 y 45 años, en su mayoría de México, España, Argentina, Venezuela y Estados Unidos. Quiero destacar a una de nuestras blogueras más activas, y que inclusive ha sido entrevistada en televisión: Bertha, una extraordinaria mujer de 82 años que nos enseña que no hay edad para seguir aprendiendo y que las herramientas digitales son poderosas y permiten a las personas seguirle dando sentido a su vida.

CC: I should say that both men and women use our platform. We are an inclusive space and we don't believe that you can talk about equality while at the same time exercising a principal of exclusion, so male bloggers are also welcomed. The majority, we're talking more than 96%, are women. Their profile is mainly urban, from 25 to 45 years of age, and mainly from Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Venezuela and the United States. I want to focus on one of our most active bloggers, who has even been interviewed on television. Bertha, an extraordinary 82 year-old woman who shows us that there's no age limit to learning and that digital tools are powerful and they can continue to give meaning to people's lives.

GV: What will 2012 bring for Mujeres Construyendo?

CC: Empezamos el año con el pie derecho, estrenando nueva casa y nuestro nuevo sitio nos permite interactuar mejor, conocernos y convivir de manera más cercana. Detrás de esto hay trabajo y compromiso y queremos consolidarnos como un espacio central para que las mujeres participen, tengan voz y con ello contribuir con nuestro grano de arena no sólo a su empoderamiento, sino al fortalecimiento de la democracia. Queremos incrementar el número de blogueras participando y vinculadas a nuestra comunidad, estamos trabajando en ofrecer herramientas a las blogueras que les permitan fortalecer su presencia y cumplir sus objetivos, sean estos personales, familiares, profesionales. Detrás de este trabajo hay alianzas y proyectos que podrán ver en un futuro muy cercano y del que con gusto les platicaremos en su momento.

Muchas gracias por su interés en conocernos y ojalá a través de Global Voices más mujeres se animen a sumar su voz a nuestra comunidad. Juntas podemos hacer una diferencia.

CC: We're going to start the year off on the right foot. Opening a new house and our new site will allow us to interact, get to know each other and live together in a closer way. Behind this there is work and dedication and we want to consolidate it into one central space so that the women who participate have a voice with which they do their bit, not just towards their own empowerment, but also towards strengthening democracy. We want to increase the number of female bloggers who participate within and are linked to our community so we are working on offering tools to the female bloggers that enable them to strengthen their presence and achieve their goals, whether these be personal, familial or professional. Behind this work there are aliances and projects that will be seen in the very near future, about which we'll talk about nearer the time.

Thank you very much for your interest in getting to know us and hopefully through Global Voices more women will be encouraged to add their voice to our community. Together we can make a difference.

Claudia is also a blogger [es] and she tweets under @LaClau [es]. You can follow Mujeres Construyendo on Facebook [es], Twitter, [es] YouTube [es], and LinkedIn [es].

Intercontinental Cry Will Launch Spanish Edition

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:23:14 +0000

Ahni announces the upcoming Spanish edition of Intercontinental Cry [es], which will go live on March 31, 2012. “The main objective of IC Espanol is, of course, to provide Spanish readers with the same news that our English readers have come to expect from us; what I consider to be essential news on the global indigenous movement.” Find out about more languages on the IC Translation Project Facebook page.

Venezuela: “Shooting Cameras Instead of Guns”

Silvia Viñas — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:55:22 +0000

Alberto Rojas says he is an “amateur urban photographer,” but the images he posts in his blog Caracas Shots look far from amateurish. He describes his blog as:

[…] a bad copy, or rather an inspiration of the blog Mumbai Paused by MS Gopal (thanks bhai), but without reach its professional level. Anyways I'll try to do the same: Capture the beauty of the simple things using either a shoot camera or my cell phone in a city full of gun shots.

With the motto “shooting cameras instead of guns,” Alberto's objective is to show the friendly side of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. His post “Flying Bags” shows children in a Caracas slum using bags in place of kites:

Alberto has recently captured images of a Chinese porcelain market:

Banner reads: "Every day, everything on sale"

Here are some shots of Caracas wall art:

An animal shelter:

And much more.

For more stunning photographs of Caracas, subscribe to Caracas Shots' feed and follow Alberto on Twitter (@chamorojas) and Pinterest.

All the images in this post are used with Alberto Rojas' permission.

Ibero-American Blogging Competition Asks Teens: “What are you reading?”

Silvia Viñas — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:17:26 +0000

The Organization of Ibero-American States invites teens ages 12 to 15 to enter a blogging competition about reading. The sign up [es] deadline is May 31, 2012, and judges will consider blog posts written until July 31. The winner from each participating country will receive an iPad. Visit the official website [es] and follow the hashtag #questasleyendo [es] (”what are you reading”) to find out more about the contest.

Venezuela: Rumours About President Chávez's Health Continue

Louella Mahabir — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:47:24 +0000

In Venezuela the rumours are far more numerous than reliable information, especially those surrounding the president. Since his cancer diagnosis made some months ago, opinions and forecasts have not stopped. Numerous notes and information that allegedly come from reliable sources but not identified [es] insist that the illness is serious, meanwhile official spokespersons assure that Hugo Chávez has sufficiently recuperated to continue his long presidential career.

Once again, there are apparent forks in the road that leads to the future. However, a mood of uncertainty remains in political discussions with presidential elections coming in October of this year, and in response to the results of the preliminary round [es] of the election of the opposition.

President Hugo Chávez from Angostura, in Bolívar. Photo from Flickr user chavezcandanga, 15th February, 2012 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

For those who favour the new presidential term with Chavez at the helm, new campaign strategies that permit the effective recuperation of the president are necessary, as Carola expresses in her post “Chávez somos todos” (We are all Chávez) [es]:

Nos enfrentamos a una campaña electoral justo ahora cuando mi Presi necesita, por primera vez en tantos años, descanso y tranquilidad [No necesitamos] una campaña reposando en un solo hombre, sobre todo cuando ese hombre necesita que la campaña repose en otros hombros, digamos por ejemplo, en los míos, los tuyos, los hombros de todos los chavistas, millones de nosotros haciendo campaña en nuestras calles, oficinas, mercados, panaderías, plazas, universidades…

We face a new presidential campaign, just when my president needs, for the first time in so many years, rest and tranquillity [We don't need] a campaign resting solely on one man, when above all this man needs the campaign to rest on the shoulders of others, let's say, for example, on mine and yours, and the shoulders of all us chavistas [Chávez supporters], millions of us campaigning on the streets, in offices, in the markets, the bakeries, town squares and universities…

However, others are less optimistic. As Naky states, in “Con él muere todo,”(Everything dies with him) [es] a post in which she recounts part of a conversation with a newspaper delivery man who actively supports the government.

No debieras preocuparte mucho […] esto muere cuando él muera. Todo va a morir con él. No hay hombre nuevo, no hay un cambio […] Sólo él. Y con él se muere todo.

You shouldn't worry too much […] this dies when he dies. Everything is going to die with him. There will be no new man, there is no change […] Only him. And with him, everything ends.

In the meantime, Antonio Aponte, in Un grano de Maíz (A grain of corn) [es] emphasizes the importance of continuing the fight, even if it is extreme:

Súbitamente caímos en cuenta de que Chávez es humano y, por lo tanto, es mortal. La política juega con esa posibilidad, es un factor en la contienda, la derecha lo manipula, lo magnifica, lo trata con crueldad. Los Revolucionarios lo lamentamos, nos preocupamos, convertimos la adversidad en fortaleza.

La respuesta es sólo una: el imperio y sus lacayos locales crean las condiciones para un zarpazo.

Si se pasan de la raya un tantico así, debemos cerrar los medios de difusión que llamen a desconocer el orden constitucional y nacionalizar los bienes de los golpistas. La Revolución está en el deber de defenderse, de defender al Comandante, al Socialismo y las conquistas del pueblo.

Suddenly it dawns on us that Chavez is human and, therefore, is mortal. Politics plays with this possibility, a contending factor, the right manipulates it, magnifies it, and treats it with cruelty. The revolutionaries lament, we worry, we convert adversity into strength.

The only answer: the imperialists and its local footmen create the conditions for its own thrashing.

If the line is crossed to even a little bit, we ought to close off the mediums of diffusion that call for disregarding constitutional order and nationalising the resources of the golpistas [people in favour of a coup]. The revolution must defend itself, it must defend the Commandant, Socialism, and the conquests of the people.

Many discussions have centred upon the obscurity of official information with respect to the President's health. People discuss whether he only has a few months left, whether he can continue with the electoral campaign, whether he is in a position to rule, or whether he is in a state of denial. Wikileaks has also published emails in which the diagnoses are less optimistic, and these have been spread over the web after the announcement of a new surgery in Cuba.

The author of The Devil's Excrement describes it in these words:

Chavismo can do little to change the feeling that something is not right.

And finally, a critical vision from the outside, on Twitter, from @byciclemark:

Chavez is more greedy than I realized. A responsible leader would not run for re-election while combatting aggressive cancer.

Venezuela: Singer Onechot Becomes Victim of Violence He Decried

Chellsy Alis Manning — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:26:12 +0000

Juan David Chacón is a reggae singer, his stage name being Onechot [es], which pronounced in Spanish sounds very much like a Latin “Juancho” and in English as “One shot”. As a reggae artist he has dedicated much of his work in spreading messages of peace.

On the night of Monday, February 27, 2012, on returning to pick up some of his recorded material, Onechot was attacked by a group of criminals who shot him, wounding him in the head. Tuesday was meant to see the artist begin his national tour of his new album, however, due to the incident he has been in intensive care following surgery to remove the bullet from his brain.

Photo of Onechot, taken by David Maris

Onechot recorded a video called Rotten Town, denouncing the violence in Venezuela. The lyrics of his music describes the situation:

Let me introduce you to Caracas, embassy of hell, land of murderers and shottas. Hundred people die every week, we nuh live in war, country is full of freaks

In 2011 alone 19,000 people were killed in Venezuela, a country that has 28 million inhabitants and is not currently facing a war on drugs such as in Mexico or an armed conflict currently affecting Colombia. In 2008, Venezuela had one of the highest homicide rates in the world and the situation has not improved. This is the crisis that Onechot reported on in his video that at the time was criticised by the Venezuelan Government:

When Rotten Town was released in 2010, the former Venezuelan Minister for Communication and Information, Tania Diaz, launched a threat of legal action [es] against Onechot for, according to official sources, the music video's showing of “sensationalist images of violence”.

The criminal act against the singer led to a protest on social networks, producing Twitter Trending Topics such as #Onechot and #FuerzaOnechot ('We support Onechot'). Most of the messages showed the surprise and indignation felt towards the fact that a peace activist had now become a victim of what he had previously denounced in his music.

Jogreg Henriquez demonstrated this with his post “Onechot saw it coming” [es]:

Onechot entró a formar parte de las estadísticas de las víctimas de los actos criminales que tienen a Caracas como una de las más peligrosas del mundo. Decenas de asesinatos cada fin de semana así lo atestiguan. Decenas de familias de luto frente a una morgue colapsada por tanto dolor y tanto olor a muerte.

Onechot has joined the statistics of victims of criminal acts which have made Caracas one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Dozens of murders each weekend confirm this. Dozens of families in mourning in morgues jammed with so much pain and the smell of death.

In the blog Panfleto Negro, the oldest blog in Venezuela, the author Luis1210 has warned that for months now the Government has tried to blame society for the violence currently seen in the country. He describes this in his post titled “Oneshot, it's your fault” [es]:

El gobierno desde hace tiempo nos quiere vender una gran falacia con respecto a la inseguridad. Quiere convertirnos en corresponsables de la seguridad ciudadana para de esa forma echarnos los muertos a nosotros. Si aceptamos esa responsabilidad de manera automática aceptamos también la culpa. Y he ahí el porqué del título, no he dejado de leer en twitter estupideces como que OneChot se lo buscó o lo atrajo cósmicamente por haber elegido ese nombre artístico o que andaba “ostentando riqueza” o cualquier estupidez. Cuando lo cierto es que OneChot es un tipo que se atreve a hacer reggae de protesta, algo que hoy en día parece olvidado.

For a long time now the Government has wanted to sell us a fallacy about the violence and insecurity in the country. They want us to become stewards of public safety which in turn makes us more susceptible to become murder victims ourselves. If we accept the responsibility for this, we automatically accept the blame. Here lies the reasoning behind my title for this post. All I have read on Twitter are nonsense posts about how Onechot was asking for what happened to him, that the violence was cosmically attracted to him because of his artistic alias or because he was “flaunting his wealth” and other such stupidity. The truth is that Onechot is a guy who dares to make reggae music that can be used as a protest, which seems to be forgotten these days.

Inti Acevedo is of the same opinion (@Inti) [es], criticising the self-censorship of other artists who denounce the social problems in Venezuela:

Cuando @Oneshot sacó el video que denuncia la violencia en Venezuela se ganó mi respeto. Un rebelde de verdad en un país de rockeros cobardes

When @Oneshot released his video where he denounced the violence in Venezuela, he won my respect. A true rebel in a country of cowardly rockers.

Meanwhile, the poet @WillyMcKey wrote a post for the blog Prodavinci [es] about how the country should leave its violence in the past and move on:

Quienes deben asegurarnos la vida ven llover sangre ajena, pisan nuestros charcos y se esconden detrás de sí mismos, como si el país fuese un hombre hospitalizado, como si la ciudad solamente necesitara condiciones antisépticas. Como si el miedo fuera una estrategia.
Mientras inventan una guerra en el espejo, afuera disparan consecuencias de la ineficacia.
Mientras buscan a quien echarle la culpa, afuera toma forma la muerte cada noche.
¿Cuándo vamos a poder cerrar los ojos para que la lluvia nos permita una sonrisa nueva? Sólo cuando mudemos Rotten Town muy lejos, a ese lugar donde reposa lo podrido: el pasado.

Who must ensure that life goes on after the bloody rain of others that collects and forms bloody puddles that are trampled on by people who hide behind themselves, as if the country were a hospitalised man, as if the country only needed antiseptic conditions to survive and as if fear were a strategy.
While they invent a war in the mirror, outside are the shots that come from the consequences of inefficiency.
While they are looking for who to blame, outside someone is killed.
When are we going to close our eyes so that the rain will wash the sadness away and permit us to smile again? Only when we move Rotten Town to a faraway place, to the place where all rotten things lie: the past.

Jaqueline Goldberg [es] is a writer and friend of Onechot's parents. In her Facebook account she posted:

I don't know how I will be able to sleep tonight, knowing that Juan David Chacón Benítez, the son and brother of dear friends, is in therapy with a bullet in his memory. How can I leave tomorrow and pronounce the words “country” and “night” without anger. Right now I am scared, I have the desire to flee, I feel clumsy and dumb. Citizen disgust.

In 2010 the filmaker Sergio Monsalve praised the quality of the video of the singer, in spite of the official criticism, for which he came back to his original post on the subject [es] and added:

This is my reason for why “Rotten Town” is one of the best Venezuelan video clips of the third millennium and one of the greatest in Venezuela's history. I return to it here because of the recent incidents affecting Onechot. I published it in August 2010. Unfortunately today it takes on a new life. In Venezuela, time continues to pass yet the problems get worse, above all the unleashing of the underworld. Our real social cancer is the lack of safety. Is this a disease without a remedy? It is time to urgently seek a cure.

Meanwhile, as the country awaits the outcome of Onechot in intensive care, the protests continue to increase on social networking sites and physical artists such as Ricardo Crovato portray Caracas as being Rotten Town, until the situation improves.

Photo of Caracas as Rotten Town, image by Ricardo Crovato

Martinique: All together around Creole

Fabienne Flessel — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:59:44 +0000

The Creole language in the Caribbean and the cooperation between islands were recently discussed during the Creole-speaking Regions Days, as explained in this post on Tous Créoles [Fr Cr/Fr]. One of the most debated issues was a visa waiving program between the French Caribbean islands and the rest of the West Indies.

Spanish-Language Digital Magazine on Using ICTs in Human Rights

Silvia Viñas — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:43:09 +0000

Digital magazine Revista Calle Sol 28 [es] looks at how human rights activists can use information and communication technologies (ICTs). The issue includes the article “The Right to the Internet” by Venezuelan journalist and Global Voices author Luis Carlos Díaz on the use and impact of blogs and social networks.

Venezuela: Reflections on Consumption and Advertising

Silvia Viñas — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:26:56 +0000

The blog El Ultimatum Hiperboreo [es] shares some thoughts on the western culture of consumption in Venezuela as seen through the advertising that seems to fill the pages of one of the most important Sunday magazines in the country.